Moms can attest: There's nothing more wonderful than having your family make you a special breakfast on Mother's Day.

Pssst. Here's a dark secret that Mom will never share: It would be just the very slightest, little-bittiest, most infinitesimal speck more wonderful if the breakfast tasted good.

Here's how to make her just that tad happier: Start with some truly fresh eggs. Lucky for you, both the Boulder and Longmont farmers' markets have some -- as do several local farms.

The ins and outs of eggs

To test freshness: Hold the egg to your ear and gently shake it. If you can hear distinctive movement, then the egg should not be eaten because that means there is a large air pocket inside the egg. This also means there is a loss of moisture from the egg which is another reason it will float in water.How to tell if it's bad: Crack the egg open in a container. First check for blood spots. Then look at the yolk, make sure it globe-like or rounded and is vibrant in color. If the yolk seeps into the white and is flat, don't eat it!

How eggs leaven: Whipped egg whites will produce air bubbles and an almost foamy mixture which is very strong in composition. This creates a rise in baked products or used as a meringue.

How to store: In refrigerator, store eggs in there carton at 40 degrees for approximately 3-4 weeks. The carton prevents moisture loss, and absorption of odors and other flavors. Raw whole eggs can be stored out of shell for 2 days while only the whites can be stored for 4 days.

To freeze: Place them in air tight freezer containers and label with the date. The eggs should defrost overnight in the fridge. Egg yolks thicken and become gel like when frozen. To prevent a thickened yolk, beat in either 1/8 teaspoon salt or 11/2 teaspoons sugar per 1/4 cup yolks, approximately 4 eggs before freezing; indicate on label if it's been salted or sugared.

-- Michelle Dubis

Cooking with eggs

Soft boiled vs. hard boiled Bring a pot of water to boil and gently place the egg into the water using a ladle. Cook for approximately 6 minutes. Make sure the boil is gentle. While the egg is cooking away, get an ice bath ready by filling up a small bowl with cold water and some ice. Once the 6 minutes are up, remove the eggs from the boiling water and submerge them into the ice water for approximately a minute. This should stop the cooking process. Then you should have a nice gooey yolk.

For hard-boiled eggs: Start the eggs in cold water, once it comes to a boil, cover and take the eggs off of the heat. Let sit for 12 minutes.

Butter: When cooking eggs, it is best to use clarified butter instead of whole because the whites will be less likely to brown.

Whipping eggs: Whipping the eggs in a copper bowl will give you light and fluffy egg whites. A stainless steel bowl will give you the same effect, but add an acidic component such as lemon juice to help make a fluffier egg white. Never ever use an aluminum bowl, because it will cause the whites to discolor.

She adds that in addition to the short time elapsed between farm and market, local eggs from chickens with that have space to roam and a variety of bugs and plants to peck at and consume have better nutritional quality. And most important on a special day -- they taste so good.

A spinach, mushroom, goat cheese and onion frittata, made by Michelle Dubis, Home Cook Outreach coordinator for Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, is baked in muffin tins.
(
Mark Leffingwell
)

From the first crack of the shell, the difference is clear. Out comes an egg with a thicker white and a more vibrant-colored orange-y yolk.

Now, for a dish that's perfect for sous chefs who may not yet have started elementary school: a frittata.

Not to put too fine a point on it: "You won't mess it up," says Michelle Dubis, Home Cook Outreach Coordinator for the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts.

The frittata she has created and will demonstrate at the Boulder Farmers' Market on Saturday is filled with spinach, mushrooms and goat cheese, all local. To erase the possibility of a big flop -- literally -- when it's time to remove the frittata from the pan, Dubis suggests baking mini-frittatas in a well-greased (don't forget this part!) muffin tin.

She offers these tips:

Make the filling first and let it cool.

Squeeze the blanched spinach to remove as much moisture as possible.

Crack the eggs one-by-one into a bowl before pouring into the mixing bowl. This allows a chance to snag any errant shells.

For the fluffiest frittata, make sure the eggs are well-whipped. This can be accomplished with energetic whisking, a.k.a. parental elbow grease as a back up to the efforts of tiny hands. Or you can put the eggs in the blender, which works a treat. Just make sure not to overblend; you can tell because the eggs start to turn thinner after being thick.

If Mom isn't a fan of spinach, mushrooms and goat cheese, try a different filling, say, bacon and blue cheese.

If it quacks

If the kids are budding Top Chefs, you might try preparing duck eggs. You may have noticed the eggs -- which are larger and richer tasting than hen eggs -- on a few menus around town, among them The Kitchen in Boulder. There they make an appearance on a flatbread with very thinly sliced lardo, a cured pork fat, and chopped tarragon.

Kyle Mendenhall, executive chef for all the Kitchen's restaurants, says duck eggs are popular with chefs because of their more intense flavor. He says when you crack a duck egg, the white comes in almost two different parts, one thinner than the more viscous part near the yolk. When frying a duck egg, sunny-side up, as the Kitchen does for its flatbread, it's important not to overcook it. The secret to keeping it tender, according to Mendenhall, is to fry it gently and then cut away the thinner part of the white, which forms the outer circle of the fried egg.

Likewise, if the egg is hard boiled, he peels off the outer white before making deviled eggs -- which he says are fabulous -- or for other uses.

For those who don't plan to arise at 4 a.m. to make flatbread for Mother's Day breakfast, he suggests making a simple fried duck egg with toast from a high quality bread and sprinkling it with fresh herbs such as chives, tarragon or fennel fronds. If you have leftover duck eggs, he says, they make great pasta dough.

Paul Cure, who owns Cure Organic Farm with his wife, Anne, sells duck eggs to the Kitchen, Frasca and other restaurants around town. He says pastry chefs are particularly fond of them because they add more structure to baked goods. One of his favorite dishes from Chef Ashley Hook at the Kitchen is a soft-boiled duck egg atop noodles, also made with duck eggs.

Cure, whose mother is a counselor to cancer patients, says some people who undergo therapy for breast cancer become allergic to hen eggs, but are generally able to eat duck eggs.

At the farm, the Cures' daughter, Georgia, 5, gathers the duck eggs as one of her chores. Cure says that since ducks are less domesticated than chickens, they bury their eggs, so Georgia likes to hunt for them.

While most people won't have to hunt for the eggs they're cooking for Mother's Day, Olson of the farmers' market says a farm fresh egg has a way of touching something deeper. She recalls bringing her 94-year-old grandmother a box of fresh produce, including eggs, from her farm.

Her grandmother had questioned Olson's choice to go into farming with her husband, arguing that the work was hard and the income chancy, something she knew from her own experience growing up on a farm. When Olson brought the box, her grandmother teased her about the eggs, saying she could get eggs anytime at the store.

Later, Olson got a call. Her grandmother said, "These are special eggs. I thought you were crazy, but you were right. They really are different."

For Olson, the experience brought home the way in which food ties people together.

"How ... precious that moment was," she says. "Security, flavor, family tradition, wholeness, all of those things. It was all about an egg."

Spinach, Goat Cheese and Mushroom Mini-Frittatas

8 eggs

1/4 cup sour cream

4 cups spinach, preferably local, blanched and shocked

2 cups mushrooms, preferably Hazel Dell, sliced

1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese, preferably Haystack Mountain

1/2 onion, diced

1 tablespoon oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Pre-heat oven to 350.

Grease muffin tins.

Boil a pot of water on the stove. Fill a large bowl with ice water. Once water is boiling, submerge the spinach in the pot for approximately 20-30 seconds. Then take the spinach out and shock it in the ice bath. Take spinach out using tongs and then squeeze out the as much liquid as possible. Chop into smaller pieces spread out to dry further. Blot with a paper towel.

Heat up a medium cast iron skillet with oil. Toss in the onion and mushrooms. Sauté for approximately 10 minutes or until mushrooms are very tender and onions are translucent.

While mushrooms and onions are sautéing, crack eggs into a bowl, one at a time, then add to the blender. Once all 8 eggs are in the blender, add sour cream. Blend for approximately 15 seconds. Eggs will appear light and fluffy.

Remove the sautéed veggies from the skillet and put in a bowl to cool. Add spinach at this point. After about 4 to 5 minutes, pour egg mixture into mushrooms mixture.

Mix with a spatula and pour the mixture into the muffin tins about 3/4 full per mold.

Crumble cheese on top and bake for approximately 15 minutes.

The eggs will rise like a soufflé when they are almost finished cooking. They will deflate shortly after.

Remove and let cool for about 5 minutes. Take a small, angled metal spatula and separate the edges from the pan and gently lift the mini frittata away from the mold.

Foster pours in 14 to lead EaglesBOULDER — As Broomfield head boys basketball coach Terrence Dunn likes to say, senior guard Sam Foster is usually the guy the Eagles turn to when they need a big play. Full Story

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story